Week One – Is This Thing On?

January 1st was my last day before this experiment began as well as my last day of Christmas vacation. I ate like it was my last day on death row and consumed about 52,394,329,823 calories. At least I went out with a bang.

Thus began week one. It went pretty well with the exception of Friday-Sunday when I came down with a case of the black lung and couldn’t work out. Okay, so it’s just a nasty head cold but I still used it as an excuse to eat pizza on Saturday, telling myself it had healing properties. Other than that, I stuck to around 1500 calories a day. I start off with 2 eggs and piece of whole grain toast for breakfast, veggie stir fry with tofu for lunch, and have been relying on lean cuisines for dinner when I don’t feel like cooking… Which is pretty much every night.

I’ve also got a pretty good exercise routine down and even managed to run about 20 miles this week with 30 minutes of cardio at the gym in between. I forgot how good it feels to go for a run at the end of the day.

So I bet you’re all wondering what my starting weight was, eh? Well I started at about 168, which for a 5’9″ girl is still a lot of extra junk in the trunk. I weighed myself this morning and, drum roll please, the scale said 165.2. I’m pretty pleased.

Now, in order to make this post longer (since I’m sick and don’t feel like being creative) I’m sharing a recipe for black bean soup. It’s delicious, low-calorie, and vegan! I replaced the corn with mushrooms and it’s super tasty.

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

1 stalk celery, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 tablespoon ground cumin

1 pinch black pepper

4 cups vegetable broth

4 (15 ounce) cans black beans

1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn

1 (14.5 ounce) can crushed tomatoes

Directions

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Saute onion, celery, carrots and garlic for 5 minutes. Season with chili powder, cumin, and black pepper; cook for 1 minute. Stir in vegetable broth, 2 cans of beans, and corn. Bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, in a food processor or blender, process remaining 2 cans beans and tomatoes until smooth. Stir into boiling soup mixture, reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 15 minutes.